


hand holding & hope

by ThatAloneOne



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Laura makes Carmilla take a shower and then they cuddle, Post-Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-06-17 10:55:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15459813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatAloneOne/pseuds/ThatAloneOne
Summary: After Carmilla returns from the dead, Laura helps her feel human again. Or. Almost.





	hand holding & hope

**Author's Note:**

> I originally posted this unedited, but it's fixed now! Enjoy some premium quality super late season one fluff.

Laura helped Carmilla into the shower, trying to hold her up while also not touching her. Though the darkness of her clothes obscured most of the blood and dirt, her trip to the bottom of the crater hadn’t been kind. Even so, people had boundaries! Pleaces to not touch! Especially when mostly-naked. Laura hadn't been dating — wait, were they even dating? — Carmilla long enough to learn that, so she was erring on the side of caution. 

“I’ll be fine,” Carmilla grumbled, acting like Laura couldn’t see that she was bracing herself off wall of their tiny shower/bath combo. “I just need to wait for the blood to-”

Right after the words left her mouth, Laura had to leap into the shower fully clothed and lean herself up against Carmilla so she wouldn’t tip over and smash her head open on the tap. “Uh huh. Because vampires heal up to be totally fine immediately and don’t need dumb human things like sleep.”

Carmilla stilled in Laura’s arms, her back warm from the water, her front chilled from her time in the pit. “I-” 

Laura hugged her closer, hoping that this was what Carmilla wanted. They’d kissed and she’d said it had been for Laura but- it was easier for people to say that than it was for them to mean it. Laura was more than familiar with that. She didn't want to push Carmilla. She was too important for that. 

But then, slowly, Carmilla’s hands crept up her back and wrapped tight around Laura. Under the sputtering spray of their terrible shower, Carmilla clung to Laura like she was a lifeline. Her head was tucked in against Laura’s neck, her nose pressing against the bite she’d made earlier. She wanted comfort more than she wanted blood, though Laura felt her shivering and knew she was hungry. The blood would take time to hit her system, just like it took Laura a while to get the sugar rush from an entire package of cookies.  

“Just rinse off and get your hair clean and we can go to bed,” Laura murmured.

 Carmilla muttered something vaguely Sumerian and mostly profanity, but disentangled herself from Laura. She was only wearing the amount of underwear that amounted to a bikini, but Laura wasn’t tempted to stare at her. This wasn’t the time, or the place, or the state to be trying to make a move on Carmilla. Keeping her eyes averted, Laura stripped down to her underwear. While Carmilla reached for the shampoo, she squeezed the water out of her clothes, a half-hope of saving them from water and pit dirt and Lophii blood. When she was satisfied Carmilla was propped up enough to survive on her own for a few moments, Laura went back into their room and grabbed some soft sleep shirts and fresh underclothes.

Getting Carmilla into them took a few minutes of arguing, but finally, they curled up together in Laura’s bed. Carmilla lay on the contested yellow pillow, her hair spread like a halo. She still looked too pale by half, but the hot shower and being horizontal. She didn't look dead anymore, not even in the goth way. There was a faint flush coming to her cheeks, and her lips were a sweet pink. 

Laura propped her head up on her arm and watched Carmilla. It was a familiar sight, to stare at her roommate in the late night, the lights out but the moon through the window enough to see by. The unfamiliar thing was how close she was — near enough to touch, near enough that _want_ turned into _had_. Carmilla's eyes were hooded, fighting sleep but failing. “I’m sorry you worried,” Carmilla told her, soft enough that the blankets near swallowed her secret.

Laura didn’t say anything at first. Instead, she reached out under the sheets and found Carmilla’s hand. “I’m glad you’re back.”

Carmilla’s eyes closed, finally. In the soft darkness of their room, the bruises under her eyes blurred away into shadow. “Me too.”

It was another hour before Laura could fall asleep. But eventually, Carmilla’s hand in hers and the thought she was here, _really_ here, and alive, was enough to soothe her to sleep.

Instead of dreaming of drowning or blood or pacing monsters, Laura dreamt of hope.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me elsewhere on the internet (tumblr and dreamwidth) as writerproblem193.


End file.
